Entries in The Comeback
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So how everyone's been doing? How's your summer gone so far? Enjoyed your trips and vacations? The searing heat throughout the country?

Yet again, we try to blow out the cobwebs, open the windows and let some fresh air into this blog and website. Back in April, I was promoted to more of a lead editor role at The Comeback, overseeing our longer feature content. It's been fun and fulfilling, but I'm a lot busier on a daily basis.

Unfortunately, that's kind of affected my writing output (especially with baseball), and also left me too fried to remember posting even a weekly writing/reading update here at The Casselbloggy.

But now that we're beginning August and the summer is sort of winding down (a reality that was always depressing as a kid), I'm going to try yet again to keep this thing somewhat active — and hopefully with more than just weekly updates of what I wrote and read each week.

Really, I should start a newsletter, right? That's the thing to do these days. Although do you need one more newsletter in your email inbox? And really, something needs to update this site.

Thanks for checking in. And I hope I can include some writing here, especially with the presidential campaign having about three months to go. For now, here's what I wrote and enjoyed reading this week.

** I think I already knew this, but cargo shorts are frowned upon? This is a staple of my wardrobe for three-quarters of the year, living in North Carolina. "Socially acceptable sweatpants"! [Wall Street Journal]

** Kim Masters always does great work with her investigative features. No one is likely surprised by this piece on the Suicide Squad production, filled with corporate fear and interference. [The Hollywood Reporter]

** This is a really cool multimedia piece on Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte and a technique in the freestyle that's been a key to his success. [New York Times]

** Amanda Waller (played by Viola Davis) may be the best character in Suicide Squad. So how was she created? Here's her DC Comics history. [Vulture]

** I was not a fan of Jason Bourne, but Devindra Hardawar highlights another problematic aspect of the movie: It gets tech totally wrong. [Engadget]

** This might be because I live around a lot of old people, but I hear a lot about knee, back and hip surgeries that didn't work. The back ones, especially, probably weren't necessary. [New York Times]

This past week was probably one of the slowest on the sports calendar. Maybe most of us should have just taken a vacation, rather than try to wring water from a stone. But it was also the week baseball players began to report for spring training, so with little else to talk about, that got a few radio stations and podcasts calling me up.

That includes my debut on ESPN Upstate, the ESPN Radio affiliate in Greenville, S.C. I don't know if that will result in a regular gig or not (and might depend on how much people want to talk about the Atlanta Braves), but it's always fun to talk to someone new, especially when it's practically a local show. Here are some audio links, if you'd like to listen:

-- Sylvester Stallone will probably be the best moment of the 2016 Oscars, if — when — he wins Best Supporting Actor and gets a great victory lap for his career. [NY Times]

-- "How does TMZ get this stuff?" The deep network of sources the tabloid site has built up, largely with generous payouts for tips and leaks, is impressive. "Everybody rats everybody else out." [New Yorker]

-- During a time when we see as divided politically as ever, the friendship between Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg could teach us some lessons about respecting one another's views. [Washington Post]

-- I've been a longtime fan of John Dickerson for his work at Slate, which has always been thoughtful, insightful and witty. Glad to see him get his moment as host of CBS' Face the Nation during this election. [NY Times]

-- Don Van Natta and Seth Wickersham have been doing great work for ESPN, the latest example being this account of the Rams moving back to Los Angeles. [ESPN The Magazine]

-- I go back and forth on Matt Taibbi, respecting his boldness and aggressiveness while also cringing because he seems to enjoy being a jerk. But he has some great points about fans and media caring about sports more than politics and current events. [The Cauldron]

Proud that I could sneak a reference to Marvel Comics Alpha Flight into that sasquatch piece, which I'm sure very few noticed or cared about. Canada's superhero team!

READ:

-- VICE seems like a media company ready to truly break out, but maybe their reach is exceeding their financial backing? But TV could change that. [Variety]

-- It's been a choppy two weeks for Marco Rubio. A bad performance in the New Hampshire debate, followed by a bad finish in that primary. But after doing well in the South Carolina debate, maybe he'll do well in next week's primary? This race is nuts. [NY Times]

-- This week's episode of FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson (which I recapped above) dramatized the June 17, 1994 Bronco chase that became a signature event in our culture. What were you doing that day? [Washington Post]

-- It's been a year since David Carr died. I wasn't entirely comfortable reading this post by his daughter, but I know writing about grief can help process it. [Medium]

-- I haven't read many Deadpool comics, though am familiar with the character. But here's a good piece on how his popularity has developed over the past 25 years. [Vulture]

-- New York Mets reliever (or former Mets reliever) Jenrry Mejia, 26, either has a significant dependency issue or is the dumbest athlete currently throwing a ball. He's failed three PED tests in the span of 10 months, resulting in a lifetime ban from baseball. [Sports Illustrated]

-- Considering how big a role Twitter plays in my life (professionally and personally), I often forget how little it matters to people who don't necessarily live online or consume media 12-16 (or more) hours a day. So that lack of importance may have finally caught up with it. [NY Times]

I adore my little niece. She's one of the truly good things in my life and I cherish every bit of time I can spend with her (and her little sister). But when she's around (as she was Wednesday through Friday), even when she's sick, it's hard to get work done. I managed to fit some in between coming up with ways to entertain her, but it was a struggle.

Oh, and I was able to hide in a room to take a couple of radio calls, including this one from Iowa:

This week, I started my weekly recaps for FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson, which I volunteered to write. Hope I don't regret that. That, along with more writing and reading links from this week are below. Thanks for stopping by!

-- If he hasn't already, Daniel Norris is going to become a favorite of Detroit Tigers fans. He's certainly piqued my interest. And he's a pretty damn good photographer! I won't jinx him by buying his jersey t-shirt. [ESPN.com]

-- This is the second time I've linked to a story about New York Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis. And as usual, I've been slow to watch the NBA. But I'm intrigued by this guy. Now I just have to watch him play more. [Sports Illustrated]

-- One of my favorite memories of going to the University of Iowa is being in that state during an election year. I wish I'd have participated in a caucus, but it was enough to be visited by every candidate and several celebrities. Ryan Lizza captures the atmosphere well. [The New Yorker]

-- I confess I haven't been enamored with Trevor Noah's version of The Daily Show. Noah is funny and talented, but I just want Jon Stewart during this election. Apparently, I'm not the only one who feels that way. [Slate]

I almost made it until February without catching a full-blown cold, but being snowed in last weekend probably gave those germs a chance to gestate and emerge. So kind of a slow writing week for me, between being zonked out on cold medicine for a couple of days along with quite a bit of editing work.

That should change in the coming week with a couple of movie reviews, helping out on Super Bowl coverage, the approach of spring training, and I'll be recapping FX's The People v. O.J. Simpson. (Will I regret that decision?)

Here are this week's writing and reading links. As always, thank you for checking in!

-- Here's a good explainer on how the Iowa caucuses work (compared to the primaries most states use for voting). I wish I'd have participated in one during my two years in Iowa (though didn't want to change my voter registration). [Washington Post]

-- It often fascinates me when people root for teams outside where they grew up or live now. But TV and the Internet have changed regional loyalties, allowing fans to develop affection for any team he or she can follow. (I still can't get into any North Carolina teams, myself. Even with the Panthers' success.) [New York]

-- Slack has become a big part of my working life. I enjoy it, but do people really hate e-mail? It feels a bit more stable to me. [Bloomberg Business]

-- So if you follow politics, you've surely heard plenty of reporters and commentators say that the past seven months have shown that nothing follows a traditional pattern anymore. That even applies to Nate Silver and FiveThirtyEight, with regard to Donald Trump's chances. (By the way, I miss Silver and FiveThirtyEight at the New York Times.) [Slate]

-- I've probably said this in one form or another during the past six or seven years, but I really am trying to get into the NBA again. (This time around, my job might force me to.) So I've certainly been following the Kristaps Porzingis phenomenon closely, and enjoyed this look at how he ended up with the Knicks. [Yahoo Sports]

-- For most of my childhood, I wanted to work in comic books. So I'll always be interested in the process of making them. Watching how a page of The Fade Out gets created from script to finished page was fascinating. [The Art of Sean Phillips]

January is typically a thin month for writing about baseball. Maybe more so this year, as the free agent market for position players has been slow to move. And the NFL is currently ruling the day. (Well, it rules every day, but especially during the playoffs.) But I got to write something about support growing for the designated hitter in the National League, which stirred some passion among baseball fans.

Editorial and writing duties for The Comeback have also been keeping me busy, often in a good way. But it was a particularly sticky week that occupied more of what would have been writing time. Hopefully, that changes in the week to come. Here are this week's writing and reading links. Thank you for checking in!